Necktie clasp combined with four-in-hand necktie



Jan. 6, 1970 R. w. HAGEN 3,487,471

NECKTIE CLASP COMBINED WITH FOUR-IN-HAND NECKTIE Filed Jn. 16, 1969 INVENTOR FIG. 3 ROBERT W. HAGEN BY Ayn! & a

ATTORN Y8 United States Patent 3,487,471 NECKTIE CLASP COMBINED WITH FOUR-IN-HAND NECKTIE Robert W. Hagen, Woodridge Lane, Sea Cliff, N.Y. 11579 Filed Jan. 16, 1969, Ser. No. 791,612 Int. Cl. A41d 25/04 US. Cl. 2-145 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A necktie clasp combined with a four-in-hand necktie including one or more bands on the rear of the front display end of the tie for slidably holding the front display end to the back end of the tie, a fiber loop strip on the rear of the back end of the tie, and a fiber hook strip to be buttoned to a shirt, the strips to be pressed together as a fiber clasp to hold the tie to the shirt.

Background of the invention The common metal clasp for clasping the common four-in-hand necktie to the front of a shirt annoys men because when fastened it causes the tie to bow outward from the front of the shirt or the shirt to bow inward. Then too, the clasp is all too often lost somewhere in the maze of household paraphernalia at the critical moment when a man is rushing to dress for some pressing engagement such as catching the morning commuter train.

The common tie tack and tie pin are also unsatisfactory as such devices put holes in the tie, which makes the tie unusable when worn without a tie tack or pin. Tie tacks, pins and tie clasps, moreover, spoil the appearance of the display end of the tie.

I have thought of something better. I have thought up a way of selling the common four-in-hand necktie with a built in tie clasp so that the clasp cannot be lost because it is always with the tie either as sold in the shop or as it hangs in the tie tack in the home of every man. What is more, my arrangement solves the annoying problem of ties bowing out from the front of the shirt, or the shirt bowing in from the tie. And my arrangement is far less expensive than the common metal tie clasp.

Summary of the invention What I do is to pass the hanging back end of the tie through a band on the rear of front display end of the tie so that the front display end is free to slide up and down with respect to the back end. Then I provide an easily separable fiber clasp fastening device between the shirt and the rear side of the hanging back end of the tie. This simple arrangement permits the hanging front display end of the tie to hang freely without the annoying bowing referred to above. It also prevents the tie from moving sideways and exposing the shirt buttons.

Description of the drawing FIGURE 1 is a view of my invention as the tie is tied in use and as it hangs on the user. This is a view looking forward from the shirt front at the rear of the tie as it hangs in use.

FIGURE 2 is a view looking at the rear of the tie as it lies flat, i.e., as it might be when lying in a shop or hanging on a rack at home.

FIGURE 3 is an exploded view to show how the invention would be used.

Description of the preferred embodiment The common four-in-hand necktie, when tied on a man as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 3, and as shown in M 3,487,471 Ice Patented Jan. 6, 1970 FIG. 2 in untied flat form, comprises a front display end 1, an intermediate neck portion 2, and a back end 3. When the tie is used, the neck portion 2 is wrapped around the neck of the user under the collar 4 of shirt 5 and the tie is formed into a knot 6 which can be positioned in the vertex 7 of the collar 4 by sliding ends 1 and 3 against each other in opposite directions. Ends 1 and 3 are supposed to hang downwardly about equal in length and lying flat over the front face of shirt 5 covering buttons 8, but if unclasped they flap about. The common metal tie clasp, or tie tack or pin, clasping ends 1 and 2 to the shirt prevents the flapping but results in the bowing referred to above.

FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 also show my invention. In accordance with my invention, the rear side of the front display end 1 has aflixed thereto a transverse band 9, ap proximately equal in length from side to side to the width of back end 3, for holding the back end 3 therewithin, and the rear side of the back end 3 has aflixed thereto a fiber clasp strip 10 which is one of a pair of fiber clasp strips .10 and 11 having surfaces facing each other which will clasp each other when pressed together so that they clasp the back end 3 of the tie to the shirt. The other strip 11 of the pair of fiber clasp strips is constructed to be buttoned around one or more of the buttons 8 of the shirt 5 by means of one or more buttonholes 11A along the length of the strip 11. If more than one buttonhole 11A is used, they are spaced the same as buttons 8. Bands 9 may be sewed to the front display end 1 at both ends of bands 9 and they should be sufficiently wide to accommodate the back end 3 therewithin in free vertically sliding movement of front end 1 with relation to back end 3 so the two ends 1 and 3 may slide freely with respect to each other. Strip .10 is somewhat longer than strip 11 to insure that the two strips will contact each other despite variations in the length of back end 3 in tying. The same purpose can alternatively be accomplished by making strip 11 longer than strip 10.

Fiber clasp strips 10 and 11 may be made of the kind of material disclosed in US. Patents Nos. 2,717,437, 3,009,235, and 3,154,837 of De Mestral. This material has been called by various names, such as hooked velvet and microhook, although I have adopted the term fiber clasp as possibly more apt. This material is formed of numerous fibers having minute books on one surface of a cloth like strip, and minute fiber loops on one surface of a mating cloth like strip. When two such surfaces are pressed together they will clasp each other on contact by means of the tiny fiber hooks. Yet the two surfaces may be separated by slight manual force pulling them apart starting at any point. Thus, one of the surfaces of strips 10 and .11 facing each other will have such fiber hooks and the other such fiber loops. This material has the merit that, unlike sticky adhesive materials, it will adhere only to itself and not to other materials.

Other materials equivalent in performance to fiber clasp may be found. But for the purposes of my invention the material must be such as adheres only to itself and not to other objects, 'since obviously my necktie would be only an unsalable annoyance if the material of the strips 10 and 11 tended to stick to other objects such as other clothing in the domestic clothing closet or elsewhere.

The manner of use of my invention is easily visualized from FIG. 3. The user ties the four-in-hand tie as usual. Then he passes the back end 3 of the tie through the band or bands 9. Then he buttons the strip 11 around one or more of the buttons 8 of his shirt 5. Then he presses the tie against his shirt so that the strips .10 and 11 come into contact and clasp each other in whatever position he thinks best to prevent bowing of the tie or the shirt. This might be done by a simple sweep of his hand from top to bottom down the face of his shirt. If the relative positioning of the shirt and tie is not correct, it can easily be corrected by pulling strips and 11 apart and repeating the process.

It should be apparent that the foregoing dispenses with the inconvenient common metal tie clasp. Moreover, my invention has the merit that it permits one to sell both the tie and the clasp, including band or bands 9 and strips 10 and 11 adhered to each other, as a unitary structure in the shop. This unitary structure of tie and clasp may always remain together in the users home since he will simply aflix the strip 11 to strip 10 when he takes 01f his tie and hangs it on his tie rack. This is in addition to the obvious merit of preventing bowing as above discussed.

I claim:

1. In combination with a four-in-hand necktie having a front display end, a back end, and a neck portion interconnecting the display and back ends:

means for clasping the tie to a shirt comprising:

a pair of mutually adhesive easily separable strips which adhere to each other on contact, one strip being afi'ixed to the rear of the tie, and the other strip being affixable to the front face of a shirt.

2. The combination as in claim 1 in which the strips are of fiber clasp material.

3. The combination as in claim 1 in which one of the strips is longer than the other to insure that the strips will contact each other despite variations in the length of the back end of the tie in tying.

4. The combination as in claim 1 in which the strip afiixable to the front face of a shirt has a. buttonhole for affixing the strip to a button of the shirt.

5. The combination as in claim 2 in which one of the strips is longer than the other to insure that the strips will contact each other despite variations in the length of the back end of the tie in tying, and the strip affixable to the front face of a shirt has a buttonhole for aflixing the strip to a button of the shirt.

6. In combination with four-in-hand necktie having a front display end, a back end, and a neck portion interconnecting the display and back ends:

means for clasping the tie to a shirt comprising:

a band on the rear of the display end for receiving the back end therewithin in slideable relation to the display end so that the display end may hang freely down the face of a shirt while being bound to the back end by the band; and

a pair of mutually adhesive easily separable strips which adhere to each other on contact, one strip being affixed to the rear of the back end of the tie, and the other strip being affixable to the front face of a shirt.

7. The combination as in claim 6 in which the strips are of fiber clasp material.

8. The combination as in claim 6 in which one of the strips is longer than the other to insure that the strips will contact each other despite variations in the length of the back end of the tie in tying.

9. The combination as in claim 6 in which the strip afiixable to the front face of a shirt has a buttonhole for aflixing the strip to a button of the shirt.

10. The combination as in claim 7 in which one of the strips is longer than the other to insure that the strips will contact each other despite variations in the length of the back end of the tie in tying, and the strip affixable to the front face of a shirt has a buttonhole for afiixing the strip to a button of the shirt.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,813,273 11/1957 Schreter 2-145 2,990,551 7/1961 Schreter et al 2145 3,405,408 10/ 1968 Baker 2-145 PATRICK D. LAWSON, Primary Examiner 

